Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first confirmed Black woman on Supreme Court
By Benjamin Chan-Kai, ‘25
Photograph by Kevin Lamarque/AFP/Getty Images
Ketanji Brown Jackson is the first Black woman to be confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court in its 233-year history.
On April 7, 2022, by a vote of 53-47, the U.S. Senate confirmed President Joe Biden’s nomination of Jackson to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. Jackson will be sworn in after Breyer’s retirement at the end of the 2021-22 Supreme Court term.
Since his presidency began in 2020, President Biden has nominated 11 Black women to federal judgeships, raising the percentage of federal judgeships held by Black women from 4.5% to 5.7%.
“For too long, our government, our courts, haven’t looked like America. I believe it’s time that we have a court that reflects the full talents and greatness of our nation with a justice of extraordinary qualifications, and that we inspire all young people to believe that they can one day serve their country at the highest level," said President Biden during Jackson’s confirmation ceremony.
Jackson has been confirmed to join the 108 white men, two Black men, four white women, and one Hispanic woman to serve on the Supreme Court.
“Black women should have served on our nation’s highest court long, long ago, ” said Vice President Kamala Harris. Racism and sexism, however, barred them from even being considered.”
Jackson predicated upon her confirmation to serve on the Supreme Court with her career as a lawyer and judge, her dedication to our Constitution and the rule of law.
Biden affirmed this by saying “The young leaders of our nation will learn from the experience, the judgment, the wisdom that you, Judge Jackson, will apply in every case that comes before you. And they will see, for the first time, four women sitting on that Court at one time.”
During the confirmation process, three Republican senators, Mitt Romney (Republican senator of Utah), Susan Collins (Republican senator of Maine), and Lisa Murkowski (Republican senator of Alaska) supported and voted Jackson into the Supreme Court.
“After reviewing Judge Jackson’s record and testimony, I have concluded that she is a well-qualified jurist and a person of honor. While I do not expect to agree with every decision she may make on the Court, I believe that she more than meets the standard of excellence and integrity,” Romney said in a statement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, has already rebuked his Republican colleagues for complaining that it was “inappropriate” for Biden to announce that he would put a Black woman on the Supreme Court.
McConnell noted that “President Reagan promised to put a woman on the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor. President Trump promised to put a woman on the Supreme Court when Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away, so I'm not complaining."
McConnell said Republicans would consider the nominee reasonably with “the kind of process I think you can be proud of.”
According to the Federal Judicial Center, only 70 Black women have been federal judges in American history. Less than 2% of the 3,843 judges have served on the federal bench.
The first Black female federal judge was appointed by President Lydon B. Johnson in 1966. Constance Baker Motley was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan.
Vice President Harris summed up Jackson’s confirmation.“President George Washington once referred to America as a “great experiment,” a nation founded on the previously untested belief that the people we, the people, could form a more perfect union. That belief has pushed our nation forward for generations. It is that belief that we reaffirmed through the confirmation of the first Black woman to the United States Supreme Court.”